Does the 360 HD DVD use the toshiba a1 drive? Or is it something else?

Well it'd almost have to be a Universal release. Which other studio would give away an HD DVD?

I'm giddy at this announcement. I'm definitely getting this on the day it launches, then quickly picking up Serenity, Superman, Superman 2, and Superman Returns. :)

Honestly...do you actually believe that Uni is giving these away and not selling them to MS at a discount?

Word is that the PS3 will have a demo disc of some type for Blu-Ray. I don't think Sony would want to throw either Spiderman movie in the PS3 box simply because it's more money they would be losing. I'd expect the three Spiderman movies to be the best selling Blu-Ray titles, so why give them away for free.

If they do throw a movie in my guess is still Charlie's Angels. First disc they encoded. Not much, if any, demand for it to be released. Lots of eye candy.

Spiderman 2 UMD and a demo disc came with the PSP at launch. I would bet the PS3 will do something similar.

How Much? :)

1. Big difference between PSP/UMD and Blu-Ray is the price the PS3 is already costing Sony. Giving away their number one titles doesn't sound smart when they can sell them for $25-30 a pop. Better to put something that looks great in the box but doesn't have much demand.

2. Anyone really think we'll see either Spiderman movie pushed before part 3 comes out? Only if Sony is desperate. They'll have one big market push ala WB's Superman day.

3. Will Sony risk throwing either film out on BD25? They'll be extra cautious about the quality on those films. I also don't see Sony making a few million BD50 discs to throw in with the PS3 for free.

Gamestop has the HD-DVD drive up for pre-order:

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802558

Giving away, selling at a significant discount to Microsoft, same difference. Universal's the only studio that would be so inclined.

Is King Kong going to be the extended cut?

Theatrical version.

The release date is 11/22 I think....hopefully we get a few reviews before that :)

Because Warner, a financial stakeholder in HD DVD, has no such interest in its success?

Well, I think you might be a bit off on this....It ALSO could be completely due to the relationship between Xbox and Peter Jackson.

Why would that be? Wouldn't any studio that supports HD DVD be interested in it being successful regardless of its stance on BD? As a supporter of both formats, WB would want both to be very $ucce$$ful. If it didn't, then it wouldn't be supporting both formats.

Absolutely....WB wouldn't be releasing their big titles on hd-dvd weeks/months before the BD release. They would be simultaneous.

Yeah...and let's not forget that they're a part of the HD DVD Alliance or whatever that was called.

I'm pretty sure what Sony will be including with the PS3 is a Blu-ray sampler demo with trailers and isolated show-off eye candy scenes. That's the approach they take with the game demo discs they include with their consoles.

If Warner had a serious vested interest in HD DVD, it wouldn't have started supporting BD so quickly. They're on the Board of Directors for BDA as well.
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...6128_tc024.htm
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051021-5463.html

Peter Jackson has no say on what formats his films come out on. He's a big filmmaker, but he doesn't own his films or have the influence to dictate they be distributed free.

I don't think WB would prefer both formats to suceed. I think it'd rather only one format to suceeed, but it doesn't want to miss out on either market at the moment or in the future, and it may not beleive that either format will eventually fail, like some other studios are hoping. Its development of a dual-format disc shows that they'd much rather just sell discs than pick a side.

Even if WB had a real interest in HD DVD suceeding, it'd be nowhere near as big the interest Universal has in HD DVD suceeding, since Universal is the only stuio that exlusively supports HD DVD.

Corpse Bride and Superman Returns are going to be simultaneous. HD DVD was released before BD, which means Warner has to play catch-up on the newer format. Plus, I don't think all the authoring tools for BD were in place as quickly as HD DVD was. It's only recently studios could author in VC-1 on BD. As time goes on, I expect a lot more simultaneous releases.

Sony's part of the Steering Committee in charge of HD DVD too, do you think they want HD DVD to succeed?

Again, I realize Warner is supporting HD DVD. However, they're not supporting it to the extent that Universal is with it's exclusive support. If any studio wants to give HD DVD the edge, it's Universal, which is why it's not surprising the 360's free disc is from them.

Kinda like Speilberg's movies?? :rolleyes:

I bet Jackson has ALOT more say than you give him credit. Im sure that Universal would like to work with him and Wingnut films in the future. I think the relationship between Xbox and Jackson had ALOT to do with Kong being released with the 360 addon. Dont underestimate that. Besides, it was a huge part of the presentation yesterday (Halo RTS, unnamed game for the future and so on).

My point was not that they prefer HD-DVD over BD or vice versa. But, just that if they were trying to be COMPLETELY fair, they would be releasing all titles simultaneously (or at least the difference makers).

Batman Begins will be THE biggest release for the hd formats on Oct 10th and they know it. I think they are just trying to be successful with both and whichever wins, wins.

Superman The Movie and the Donner Cut have no release date on BD. Neither does Batman Begins.

My God...with all the talk about bias on this forum it's a wonder that certain people aren't being called on theirs.

We also havent seen the packaging for Superman Returns on BD....im curious if thats gonna happen since its gonna be BD50.

I think if we look at releases only and speculate WB loyalty, then obviously they seem to fall more on the hd-dvd side of this war.

I don't think it's speculation. As I said, they are a part of that HD DVD alliance and that's a pretty strong stance. I think they'd give up BD before HD DVD.

<s>I honestly think Jay G. enjoys spinning everything into a :rolleyes: for HD DVD.</s> digi, you know a LOT better than that. -namja

Why, has a Speilberg movie ever been distributed for free?

In other words, you're just guessing his has influence.

No doubt. I'm sure New Line would like the same thing, as would MGM. I don't see what this has to do with a free release though.

Any relationship between Jackson and Microsoft at best could be part of the reason why Universal chose King Kong over another title, but it still would've been a Universal release. Do you think Spiderman was given away with the PSP because of a relationship between Sam Raimi and PS2, or because it was a Sony Pictures release?

How does Microsoft promoting the free HD DVD title prove anything about how it was chosen? Do you think they wouldn't have promoted it as heavily had it been Superman Returns?

Exactly, Warner is just interested in sales, it's not interested in helping one format win over the other like Universal is.

I agree that it's not surprising. But that isn't what you originally said...

You said that "it'd almost have to be a Universal release", "Which other studio would give away an HD DVD?", and "Universal's the only studio that would be so inclined". I disagree with all of that.

There's no reason Warner or any other HD studio couldn't have been included. I'm not shocked that it's a Uni disc, but you seem to think that it *had* to be a Uni disc. I just don't see that.